Brotherhood
by Novarosehedgehog18
Summary: Shadow, Sonic and Silver are brothers forever. This story is about how they handle the challenges that life throws in their faces.
1. Chapter 1

Change

By Nova Rose

Shadow the hedgehog was two years old. He was pretty smart for his age, and could already read most of the picture books in his room. He was reading one such book when, at about 8:00 in the morning, his dad, Julius Hedgehog, came in and said," Shadow, I'm taking your mom to the hospital. The baby is coming." Shadow looked at his dad, surprised. He had known that his mom, Bernadette Hedgehog, was going to have another baby, but he had thought that the baby wasn't due for a few more weeks.

"I thought that the baby was coming in a few weeks," he said. His father replied," Well, I guess your little brother or sister is tired of waiting to see the world." Shadow thought about this for a minute, then asked," So... What do I do?" Julius replied," There's a sitter coming to watch you until the baby is born. Once your little brother or sister is here, I'll give the sitter a call, and she'll bring you up to the hospital." After a moment, Shadow said," So... Can I get back to reading then?" Julius laughed and replied," Yes Shadow. You can get back to reading." Shadow turned his attention back to his book, and his dad left.

After about 5 minutes, the sitter arrived and checked on Shadow. He was intently focused on his reading, so she didn't bother him. He read for the next three hours, taking books one at a time from a stack at his right that was almost as tall as he was. Just as he was starting on book number thirty-one, the phone rang. The sitter came to his room and said," Shadow, that was your father. You have a little brother. It's time to go see him." Shadow set his book down and walked up to the sitter. She took him by the hand and together they walked up to the hospital.

20 minutes later...

Julius met them in the waiting room. The sitter was carrying Shadow now, because his legs had gotten a little tired on the way over. She handed Shadow to Julius. He smiled at his son and asked,"Are you ready to meet your little brother, Shadow?" Shadow nodded. "Then let's go." He left the waiting room and went up to Bernadette's room. Julius set Shadow down and went to sit on the edge of the bed next to his wife. "Shadow, come here," his mother said softly. Shadow walked over to the bed and climbed up on it. Bernadette was holding a tiny bundle in his arms, and it was moving. "Is... is that my little brother?," he asked. "Yes," she replied, cradling the baby with one arm and putting the other one around Shadow and pulling him close to her. Shadow closed his eyes and nuzzled his mom. He liked it a lot when she held him, even when it was only with one arm. After a few minutes, Bernadette said,"Shadow, look at your brother. His eyes are open." Shadow opened his eyes and looked at his little brother. His brother had royal blue fur, with a pale muzzle and chest and emerald green eyes. His quills were very short and still soft. His brother looked a lot like their parents. Shadow wondered why his brother looked like he was actually related to them while Shadow looked nothing like them.

For the entirety of his 2 years of existence, whenever he went somewhere in public with his parents, anyone and everyone would always come up to them and ask if they were trying to find Shadow's family. Then his parents would patiently explain that they were his family, and whoever had asked would walk away looking very embaressed. Shadow knew he looked different, and he didn't mind most of the time, but when people kept bringing it up, it made him feel a bit like an outsider.

"Shadow, would you like to hold him?," Bernadette asked, interrupting his train of thought. He nodded. His mother put him in her lap and showed him how to support his brother's head. Shadow looked down at his little brother and couldn't help but smile. "What's his name?," Shadow asked. "His name is Sonic the Hedgehog," Julius replied. Sonic smiled when he heard his name. Shadow said," Hi Sonic. I'm your big brother, Shadow." Sonic seemed to think about this for a minute, then said,"Sh-Shads." Shadow chuckled and said,"Close. Shad-ow." Sonic repeated,"Shads." Shadow frowned. Sonic repeated again,"Shads." Shadow said," If he wasn't a newborn, I'd think he was doing it on purpose just to irritate me." At that moment, Sonic yawned and closed his eyes. A few seconds later, Shadow also yawned and closed his eyes. within minutes, they were both asleep.

Bernadette and Julius looked at each other, then Julius said,"I think they're going to get along just fine." Bernadette smiled. Julius smiled back, then leaned down and kissed both his sons on their foreheads. "I love you both more than words could ever describe." Then he looked at Bernadette. "And Bernie-baby, you did so good." She smiled at him lovingly. "Thanks Jules." He kissed her, then they both leaned back on the pillows, careful not to wake their boys. Before long, they were asleep too, and then the entire family enjoyed a long, peaceful sleep filled with good dreams of a bright future.


	2. Chapter 2

Doubts about Belonging

By Nova Rose

As the months passed, Sonic grew, and before long, he'd started dragging Shadow outside so they could race. By the time he was 2, he was nearly as fast as his brother was at 4. Unfortunately, the times Sonic usually wanted to race were the times when Shadow wanted to sit quietly and read. But since Shadow loved his rambunctious little brother, he usually agreed to race him.

Today, however, was different from most other days. Today was the annual Hedgehog family reunion, which was being held at their house this year.

Shadow, being the dictionary definition of " introvert" was not looking forward to it. Sonic, on the other hand, was very excited to meet all their relatives. He'd only been a year old at the last reunion, so he didn't remember most of it.

"It's gonna be so much fun!," exclaimed Sonic, running literal circles around Shadow. " It'll be alright, I guess," Shadow replied unenthusiastically. " Aw, come on, lighten up a little, Faker!" Shadow face-palmed. For the last month or so, Sonic had taken to calling him "Faker". Before that, it'd been "Shads", and Shadow was really starting to wonder if his little brother existed simply to be the bane of his existence.

When Shadow facepalmed, Sonic asked,"What? What did I do?" Shadow sighed and replied," Remember what I said about how I feel when you call me 'Faker'?" Sonic thought for a moment, then replied, " That it makes you feel like an outsider in the family, and mad as heck, and that when I say it, you are tempted to beat me to a pulp, because you can." Shadow nodded. "Yep, that pretty much sums it up." He sighed. " Look, while the relatives are here, could you lay off the nicknames? I'd really appreciate it." Sonic smiled at his brother. " Just for today, I'll pretend to remember what your real name is. I only call you 'Shads' or 'Faker' when I'm trying to bug you, because that's what little brothers are for." Shadow smiled and hugged sonic. " Thanks, little bro. That means a lot to me." He let go, and out of nowhere, Sonic bolted out the front door. " Race you to the Lake of Rings!," he shouted, leaving a trail of dust in his wake. "Oh, it is SO on!," Shadow yelled, bolting after him.

True to his word, Sonic didn't call Shadow a single nickname all day. And Shadow greatly appreciated it. Since some of the relatives were spending the night before heading home, Sonic and Shadow had to share their room with 9 of their cousins. Sonic fell asleep almost instantly, but was finding it difficult to sleep. He was used to it just being him and Sonic, and almost all of the cousins snored. So, after several hours of futile efforts to sleep, Shadow went to sit at the top of the steps and listen to the adults. He listened in just as one of his aunts said," That Sonic of yours is certainly a handful. How do you manage him?" His mother replied," Shadow's a big help. And Sonic's a sweet boy, just very…. energetic. I honestly don't know how we'd manage without Shadow. He plays with Sonic, and races him, even when he doesn't want to. And Sonic loves him." His aunt, Iris, he thought her name was, sniffed. "Yes, him. Wherever did you find him, anyway?"

Bernadette replied, sounding confused," What do you mean by 'wherever did you find him'?" Iris replied," Oh, come on, Bernie. We've all heard the rumors. And there are quite a few. Some say you found him on your doorstep with a note and all that. Others say you let a homeless couple stay the night with their baby once, and in the morning, they were gone, but they'd left the baby. And then there are some that are just ridiculous. So please Bernie, enlighten us. Where in the world did you find him, since he's clearly not a member of the family?" Shadow's ears drooped. She really thought he didn't belong? Keeping to the shadows of the stairs, he moved so that he could see the adults. Bernadette bristled. ' Just because he doesn't look like us doesn't mean he's not a member of the family or that we love him any less. It just means he's unique, and Jules and I know he'll go on to do great things someday."

"You didn't answer my question."  
"We had Shadow the same way we had Sonic. Now please, can we move on to something else?" Iris rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm going to bed. Goodnight, everyone." One by one, all the relatives went to bed, until only Jules and Bernadette were still awake.

Bernadette looked up at the staircase where Shadow was hiding. "Shadow, sweetie, we know you're there. Come on down." Shadow slowly walked down the stairs. "How did you see me?," he asked. " The gold rings on your gloves gave you away," Jules replied. His mom gestured for him to sit down between them. He sat and looked at his mom. " Why do people always think like that?," he asked. " I don't know, darling, " Bernadette replied, " but for some reason, some people don't like what they can't understand. Your aunt Iris doesn't understand why you look the way you do, so she has gotten it into her head not to like you. But your dad and i want you to know that we love you, and we wouldn't trade you for anything." They both put their arms around him. Shadow smiled. Cuddled in the loving arms of his parents, he said, " Thanks mom, thanks dad. I know, and I love you both, too."


End file.
